


Deadbeat

by pocketpauling



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Scout I Will Hug You So Help Me God You Deserved Better, i would classify it this way yes, in this house we hate deadbeat dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 07:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19998052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketpauling/pseuds/pocketpauling
Summary: Scout tries to read a comic. Spy tries to pick a fight. How will it end? The answer may surprise you! (Hint: Scout wants to Bonk Atomic Punch a guy.)





	Deadbeat

**Author's Note:**

> based on an argument i had with my own dad (who also abandoned my family!) once. so, basically, im coping?  
> edit 2/2/20: I KEEP TRYING TO WRITE A SECOND CHAPTER with Real Dads(tm) engie and medic but its so hard. its so hard yall. sometime in the next month

Scout is a lot of things. He’s oblivious, forgetful, and hyperactive, just to name a few, but nowhere in that list is the word stupid. It’s easy to mistake his personality and his open disregard of what others think of him as him being dumb; people have underestimated his intelligence his whole life. It’s nothing new.

He reads _sometimes_ , he did okay in school, he was raised by his Ma and she’s not dumb. So what if he has trouble reading big words sometimes? Or takes jokes way too far? Or can’t catch sarcasm? That doesn’t make a person dumb.

Everyone seems to think they know him better than he knows himself, though. Everyone on the team has got their hats thrown in the Scout-doesn’t-know-jack ring.

No one’s more all-in on it than the Spy.

That’s why, after catching Scout chilling in the de-facto living room celebrating Red team’s first win of the week with a brand spankin’ new comic book and a couple cans of Bonk, the first thing out of Spy’s mouth was, “I’m surprised you’re even capable of reading picture books.”

And, for the first time in a while, Scout had to genuinely fight the urge to murder a teammate in cold blood.

Instead, he responds with a generic and uncharacteristically tired, “don’t knock ‘em 'til ya try 'em,” trying to sound a thousand percent less angry than he was. Spy always grates on his nerves, but Scout was usually too spaced out or hopped up on caffeine to be truly angry at the guy. Tonight, though, he’d caught Scout in between caffeine patches and before he’d had the opportunity to bonk a Bonk.

From his position on Red team’s stupid, busted sofa, he could barely see the Medic in the kitchen, and, judging by the whistling coming from the same direction, Engie was in there with him. Probably making dinner for the whole team to scarf down and not thank them for.

Scout couldn’t count on either of them to defend him if Spy really got going with the 'Wow, Scout, You’re Fucking Stupid!™’ bullshit he pulls all the damn time. Couldn’t really count on anyone.

Speaking of, Spy was spinning up his mini-gun of intelligence insults. Or maybe the better metaphor would be to say he’s decloaking to stab Scout in the face with unnecessary rudeness? Christ, who does this guy think caps the points for them? Certainly not ski mask over here. They could cut him some slack every once in a while. Enjoy a comic in peace or something.

“- you don’t even have the brain cells left to listen when you’re being spoken to.”

Ah, yes, Spy was talking. Scout glanced up from the first page of the comic - Spy hadn’t even let him read the first few sentences yet - and tried to convey how much he didn’t want this conversation to continue.

Spy, however, was too busy focusing on gesturing like a wild European to notice Scout’s half-glare. It was like he was bored and had to insult someone to feel important.

French people.

“You’re worthless,” Spy continued, still on his seemingly never-ending holier-than-thou bullshit, “It’s a wonder you were able to crawl out from under your mother’s roof on your own. And the fact that you could only get work as a brainless mercenary is even more telling.”

Scout countered relatively quickly, not going to let Spy get away with what he’d said, “Don’t forget where you ended up too, dumbass. If I’m a brainless merc, so are the rest of ya.”

Oh, nothing got under Spy’s skin like having his intelligence insulted, as ironic as it was. Scout making any kind of point? Might as well have stabbed the man in the back. Spy’s face went from annoyed to downright livid.

“Don’t try to pretend you’re smarter than me,” Spy seethed. Genuine, real seething. His whole demeanor had taken a sharp turn at little to no provocation – the guy was way too easy to rile up. Everything was an insult to him when it came out of Scout’s mouth, every tone too inappropriate. “Remember that I am always going to know more than you. I don’t know why you keep acting like you’re -”

Oh, Scout was not going to let this fly, not right now, not today. Not in front of his new comic and favorite soda. He finally pulled himself into a sitting position because, hey, it’s hard as hell to argue when you’re laying down. The only laying down Scout was about to do was laying down the damn law.

“Hey, you came over here and bothered me, frog legs. I didn’t do anything to you. I _never_ did anything to you,” Scout was tiptoeing right on the verge of shouting, but this was still a semi-private argument, and he’d prefer it if it stayed that way. Embarrassing to get owned by a guy half your age. “You’re not the boss of me, you shape-shifting freak. Last time I checked, you’re not my fuckin’ dad.”

Spy’s face passed through at least 5 different emotions before it settled on what was maybe the angriest he’d ever seen the guy. He managed to cloak before Scout even realized what he’d said to him, and Scout was left alone with his comic and his sodas, and the faintest sound of running water from the sink in the kitchen.

He heard a door slam in the distance. Oh well. If he can’t handle a fact, he shouldn’t be out in the real world.


End file.
